Del Piero has until derby kick-off to be fit

THE wait on Sydney FC marquee Alessandro Del Piero could go right down to kick-off as the club sweats on whether to risk the star forward in Saturday night's Sydney derby at Allianz Stadium.

The 38-year-old is battling to overcome a hamstring injury and hasn't trained with the senior team at all this week, sparking speculation he could be set to miss his second successive match.

Del Piero trained alone again on Thursday, aided by his personal fitness coach Giovanni Buonocore, instead of joining in the main session - a full-scale practice match.

While the Sky Blues recorded only their third win of the season in the absence of the Italian superstar last week, Del Piero's inclusion would be an obvious boost to new coach Frank Farina - not to mention the crowd, with some 25,000 expected to make their way to Moore Park.

But with the club always keen to protect their biggest asset, Del Piero's best chance of being involved in the clash might be to come off the bench, ensuring he is still able to make an impact without being fatigued.

Speaking at the end of training on Thursday, Farina said he would give his ''trequartista'' every chance of playing.

''You'd like to be in a situation where you have no questions about Alessandro playing but there's still that little bit of doubt there,'' he said. ''We've still got 48 hours, so we'll wait and see, but it's good to have two Socceroos [Brett Emerton and Terry Antonis] back as well. It's a nice situation to be in.''

However, while there is going to be at least one forced change given that captain Terry McFlynn will miss the match after being sent off in the win over Wellington, Farina said those players who did the job in New Zealand would be rewarded.

''No one really deserves to miss out from last weekend but that decision will be made tomorrow, after the final session,'' he said. ''It's good to have that competition for places and with good players to put in.''

Farina could only watch the first Sydney derby from his home in Papua New Guinea, and had no idea at the time that he would by leading the Sky Blues into their next local duel.

''I think it will continue to grow over time, and the first game was a fantastic crowd and atmosphere, and most probably anyone there would most probably be wanting to come to the second one and future ones as well,'' he said. ''It's a healthy competition to have in a city, it will continue to grow, and hopefully we can get the same result as we did last time.''

Although Sydney are unbeaten under Farina, he is under no illusions about the size of the task ahead beyond the derby.

''We're still bottom, so we're looking up at everyone else. From when I came in, my belief hasn't changed,'' he said.

''We're not even talking about the top six, we've got to talk about winning games of football or picking up points, and we've done that in the past two weeks.

''As long as we continue to do that, we'll rise up the table. But it's very tight at the moment - I expect it will be tight all the way through to the end of the season.''

The match will be a massive test for the nerves of goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic but the 25-year-old has impressed in his first two games, conceding only a late penalty against the Phoenix and generally looking very composed between the posts.

''He certainly has, he's playing well but it's only two games,'' Farina said. ''He, like all the players, set their own standards, and the standards they've set in the past two weeks have been pretty high in terms of their commitment and their work rate. I expect them to maintain it, as with Vedran.''

Janjetovic declared he was ''pretty happy'' with his own form and that he would relish the opportunity to start in the derby.

''I'm very excited. I sat on the bench for the first one, and it almost feels unbelievable,'' he said. ''I can't wait to get out and play in the second one and hopefully we get a good result.''